


A Necessary Lesson

by Silex



Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 08:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16850263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silex/pseuds/Silex
Summary: Sesame Street has always taught children important lessons about the world they live in, some of them tougher than others, and as the outside world changes so to must the characters.





	A Necessary Lesson

**Author's Note:**

  * For [republic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/republic/gifts).



> Thank you for this wild prompt. For those curious, the fic itself is based around [this picture](https://www.instagram.com/p/BeWDsrpAQYd/?hl=en&taken-by=mrrevenge).

It was a tough decision to make, but a necessary one. After all, Sesame Street was meant to teach children about the world and as such had to reflect the world. Right now it was a time capsule of the way things had been before, no curfews, no quarantines, no packs of roving things that had once been human prowling the streets. Children were being shown a world that didn’t reflect the one they lived in and that had to change.

The change was the hard decision, how it would be handled wasn’t.

Picking who it would be was easy.

Not one of the adults, certainly none of the children for that would be too horrific, too close to home. There was no telling how many of them had lost parents or friends.

Nor could it be one of the more human looking Muppets. Bert and Ernie were too important to too many people and Count von Count was determined to be immune because he was a vampire. That had been an interesting discussion, with points raised that would be filed away for later brainstorming sessions.

A new character couldn’t be introduced just to be taken away, that would take too long when there was so much other setup to handle.

It would have to be one of the monsters already there and which one it would be was no question at all.

He’d been a problematic one for a while now, his loud, brash behavior tempered only slightly as the years passed. Cookies were a sometimes food now and his character developed further, but he was still the most one note of them. His hunger, impulse control issues, tendency to eat everything place in front of him meant that what would happen would be the least dramatic and therefore least traumatic.

It was going to be Cookie Monster, there was no other choice.

The decision was kept under wraps, only the writers knew at first, giving them time to ease into the situation.

Mr. Hooper’s Store started stocking new items, more canned goods, generators, canning supplies and the sorts of items that children likely saw their parents buying or had around their homes. There was even a flare gun in a clearly locked glass case, hung on the wall, visible, but never looked at or directly mentioned, a decision made because of the number of children whose parents likely had some form of firearm around the house. The large safe in the back corner, never opened and like the flare gun, never talked about was a gun safe, though it was never referred to as such.

Big Bird and Aloysius Snuffleupagus talked about the importance of having an emergency meeting place and packed ‘Good bags’ together. Snuffy’s issue of finding one large enough for him was equal parts endearing and addressing the important decision of what could and couldn’t be taken – a favorite pair of hiking boots and brightly colored flashlight were fine, a beloved teddy bear might not fit though. The end, a punchline of sorts, where Big Bird frets over the weight of his friend’s pack only to laugh when Snuffy lifted it effortlessly was a much needed release of tension and a pertinent reminder to children watching that they needed to know what they could and couldn’t carry when they needed to get out of the house fast.

Grover started carrying a backpack of supplies he might need everywhere with him, always having the right thing for any situation.

Bert and Ernie bought an ‘emergency safe’ together, a slightly uglier, clunkier looking one than that in Mr. Hooper’s Store and endlessly moved it as they discussed the best place to put it. Bert not liking the thing at all, but agreeing that it was a good thing to have reflecting the fact that there wouldn’t always be agreement on the best way to keep safe.

Oscar the Grouch announced that he was moving, a reminder that people did have to move to safer places now, but it wasn’t necessarily a frightening thing. Of course it ended up only being to a dumpster just down the street, one where he extolled the virtues of. Look at the way the top latches closed from the inside! No one can bother me if I don’t want them to! And it’s so sturdy, no one’s going to move it on me! Solar panels too, so we don’t have to worry about power.”

Of course Grundgetta complained about how much smaller it was than Oscar’s old trashcan after looking around inside – the root cellar was so small, there were guest bedrooms that could be converted to supply closets if necessary since she certainly wasn’t going to invite any guests and the vegetable garden and orchard both needed a lot of work – who needed such a large asparagus patch? And where were they going to put the piano unless they rearranged all the furniture and moved the TV to the opposite wall? The movie theater was a nice touch though.

Little things adding up, to reflect things that children would see.

A new monster character was introduced, because monsters were less frightening, Lieutenant Knab. His design was a particular challenge for the puppet makers, mostly because the writers came up with him and what he’d do before there was any notion of what he’d look like. The descriptor ‘Monster in NBC (Nuclear Biological and Chemical) protective suit’ wasn’t much to go on, but was still a tall order to create. First of all there was the question of how to make the suit less frightening to get children used to the idea of soldiers wearing them walking through their neighborhoods. Numerous color choices were debated – bright was the obvious answer, but he needed to stand out from the other monsters and the suit needed to be recognizable. Yellow and orange were the two favored choices.

Blue was out from the start, no room for debate, without the puppet makers being given a reason.

Yellow was the choice they went with, despite the similarity to Big Bird, and Knab’s bright orange, furry hands and feet were visible, as well as a comically expressive set of eyebrows over the mask, realistically defeating the point of the suit, but necessary to make him less frightening. Besides, there were some liberties that could be taken.

Lieutenant Knab, implied, but not stated to be a member of the Biological Response Team, would make regular patrols of the street, letting the others know that everything was alright and helpfully answering questions that children might have for military personnel. He was gruff, but helpful and took his job very seriously and there was some talk that he might be a grouch beneath that suit, a callback to Oscar originally being orange, much to the delight of adults watching the show with their children or grandchildren.

In time, when children were used to him, the Lieutenant was given a human partner, Private Joe. The first name address was important to make him more relatable and his more accurate NBC suit was without a mask, again defeating the point of the suit, because children needed to know that the men and women behind the masks weren’t frightening, even if they could seem it at times.  In contrast to the Lieutenant, Privet Joe was open and smiling and would occasionally stop to play with the children and monsters, or give them small gifts of toys and candy on special occasions. He was the one who explained that they were part of the Biological Response Team, and what that meant, in safe, child friendly terms.

There came the episode where the two of them responded to a call from Bert about hearing a frightening noise outside late at night. It was the first episode where Joe was shown to wear a mask along with his suit. Bert and Ernie waited anxiously inside, telling jokes and singing songs to pass the time while they waited for the all-clear, each of the pair having a different preferred way to spend that time and needing to compromise as they always managed to. Finally, Lieutenant Knab and Private Joe returned, Joe carrying a kitten that had been trying to get in the house. Bert and Ernie had a good laugh about that and for the next few episodes Private Joe carried the kitten around until it was reunited with its owner in a touching, comforting scene meant to show children that a beloved pet or family member who was away wasn’t necessarily in danger.

Maybe not the most true of messages, but children needed reassurances.

Then finally the day came.

The news had been broken to the studio a month before and, while there were some protests, it was agreed that it was the best choice. Better than introducing a whole new character only to have them taken away and possibly instill in the young viewers distrust and fear of new people.

The actual event was quick, no suspense, no drama, no waiting full of dread for what was to come.

Cookie Monster got into ‘a bad situation’ prior to the start of the episode, carefully off screen, but discussed in such a way to make it clear what had happened. The phrase attacked wasn’t used, but when it was mentioned that he was hurt the meaning was clear.

In a daring decision, Cookie Monster was shown, waking up in his bed, hungry.

As he always was.

This was different though, the familiar googly eyes were mere pinpoints and his shaggy blue fur was especially disheveled. Visual cues to let the children know that he wasn’t well and reflect things that they might have seen themselves or knew to look out for.

His friends, with increasing caution, showing the necessary care that one should when dealing with a potential infectee, offered him snacks, an apple, bacon and eggs, and of course cookies, which he ate with his customary gusto. They were careful, but not afraid.

Until he started, aggressively, eating nonfood objects, as he was prone to from time to time. His eating a shoe dropped by one of the children of the cast was done in such a way that it was played up for laughs, a little release of the building tension.

When he refused cookies and made a half-hearted jump at one of them, all the while grumbling that he was hungry, the one of the children went to the phone and made the call.

‘Cookie Monster’s not feeling well, he got hurt the other day and now he’s very hungry. Yes, extremely hungry, but he won’t eat his favorite foods!’

Cookie Monster was then shut into the room, the door locked, and they waited. On the other side of the door Cookie Monster continued to grumble and noisily eat whatever he could find in the room. A safe way to make clear the ravenous hunger that the infected had.

Off screen and not, as it was in reality, directed at living things.

Lieutenant Knab and Privet Joe showed up, Joe carrying a catchpole of all things.

Arguably, they were used in the rare cases where specimens were being acquired, and since it had been established from the start that there would be no guns shown other than the flare gun in Mr. Hooper’s Store, it was the only way.

They went into the room, Lieutenant Knab, in his gruff way, reassuring the others that everything would be fine. Joe agreed with a kind smile, holding onto the catchpole. Cookie Monster, on the other end, growled and turned his head to gnaw on the poll, all while grumbling about being hungry.

There was debate as to whether showing Cookie Monster captured would upset children, but in a small test audience, it was determined better than the alternative of not showing him at all. Without the scenes of him captured it was too easy for children to imagine that he was dead, shot by the Biological Response Team. It was necessary to show him captured to reassure children and reaffirm that he was still alive and that Lieutenant Knab and Privet Joe were helping.

In a very short scene, the focus carefully off of Cookie Monster and on the Lieutenant and Joe, the pair explained that they were taking Cookie Monster away so that special doctors could treat him and help him get better, which was at least somewhat accurate. While unlikely that there would ever be a cure for those already infected vaccines were being worked on and there was talk of the possibility of a treatment for those bitten who hadn’t developed symptoms yet.

And with that, Cookie Monster was taken off screen.

After all, Sesame Street had always taught children necessary lessons, even the tough ones and it was important that the show change with the times, no matter how frightening those times may be.

There was the hope that Cookie Monster would return someday, and in the following episodes it would be occasionally discussed so that the children wouldn’t fear that he was gone forever. In time the discussion would grow less common and eventually come to a stop, for, given the situation, it was unlikely that there was any realistic way for him to return.

It was a necessary end to a beloved character.

 


End file.
